"Huh? Did I just hear you right?" Dhurke replied, baffled. After a couple moments of pondering, I had finally come to a decision. I would accompany Dhurke on his way to the mountains. That is, if he even accepts.

"You heard quite clearly. I would like to join you on your little... vacation." I repeated, standing up. Dhurke rubbed his chin in thought and said:

"What exactly is your reason?" I shrugged at his question.

"You said it was possible Queen Amara was kidnapped at the moment, correct?" I asked him. Dhurke's expression darkened.

"Yes, it is possible." He replied.

"Well, I were to find any leads on her location, or more importantly, if you two were to find any leads, it would be a lot easier to ask for help for someone who already knows the exact situation, wouldn't it?" I suggested, walking over to Dhurke. "My main goal right now would be to find Queen Amara, and from what it looks like, it's yours too." I extended my hand towards him. "You've already helped me so much, now it's time for me to help you." Dhurke stared at my outstretched hand for a couple of seconds, before he smiled and grasped my hand.

"Thank you Rei'vol. I truly appreciate it." Dhurke put his hand back to his side. "We leave in the morning if everything goes well." He informed.

"Alright. If it's okay with you, I'd like pick some things up from my home before we leave." I requested, before taking another bite of the apple in my hand.

"I don't see a problem with that. But, I think you should probably have someone accompanying you. The way to the outside is... well, let's just say it is not easy to get to." Dhurke scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. I sighed.

"I'm fine with someone coming with me." I replied. Datz, who seemed to be done eating, stood up and walked over to me.

"I'll go with ya!" He told me, giving me a thumbs-up with both of his hands. I smiled and gave him one as well.

"Though..." I grabbed my Magatama necklace and pulled it over my head, before placing it on the chair I was sitting on. "Just to assure that I'll come back, I'll leave that there."

"While I do trust you, I suppose that helps." Dhurke said.

"Welp, if you're gonna get your stuff, we should leave now." Datz said, pointing to a hole in the room with a ladder sticking out of it.

"I'm honestly more surprised I didn't notice that earlier." I deadpanned. I turned to Dhurke and bowed.

"Well, goodbye for now." I said to him.

"Same here, for the both of you!" Dhurke exclaimed. Even Nahyuta and Apollo waved at us.

'That's actually pretty cute.' I thought to myself. After a few moments later, Datz entered to the hole and started to climb down, so I followed. Once we reached the bottom, I could tell why Dhurke advised me to not go through here alone. It was pitch-dark in here! Not only that, but the sound of water hitting water was incredibly loud. And was that the sound of an animal or something?

"Um, Datz, are we in a sewer by any chance?" I asked, putting my hand on forehead. "If we are in one, just say we aren't to make me feel better."

"Well then, we aren't in a sewer!" Datz exclaimed. I sighed in exasperation.

'This is going to be very tedious, isn't it?'

---

Febuary 16, 3:20 PM – Kingdom of Khura'in – Ba'zaar

Surprisingly, it didn't take much time for us to get to the outside. Myself and Datz made some conversation. Apparently, Datz used to be a paratrooper. A high ranking one as well. He was friends with Dhurke even back then, so when he found out that Dhurke was being treated as a wanted man, he didn't believe them. Datz went to the Sahdmadhi Law Offices, which was where we were previously, and found Dhurke. He told him what happened, and Datz believed him immediately. He resigned from his job and decided to aid Dhurke as best he can.

'They must be great friends.' I had thought.

After a good ten minutes of traversing the sewer, we had made it to the exit. Datz pushed away the manhole blocking us from the outside and we climbed out into the dark alley. And everything seemed so normal. There was still children running around, warbaa'ds and other animals running around freely, food stands. Nothing changed at all from when I had come out for Queen Amara's anniversary, despite the fact the nearly everything had changed for me. Which reminded me of something.

"My house is over there." I pointed towards the south and started to walk in that same direction. Datz followed,

"Anyways, Datz, is Dhurke celebrating Queen Amara's anniversary?" I asked, putting my hands behind my head.

"Nah. Dhurke said it ain't right to celebrate that when it's possible she's still alive. It's like saying Amara's dead for sure, he says." Datz answered. I suppose that makes sense. I wanted to believe Amara's wasn't dead as well, so celebrating something like that would be a bit counter-intuitive. Even if I did want to, it looked like it was about 3PM, meaning the anniversary was probably done by now.

"Alright." From there, not many words were spoken between us. We had probably run out of thing to talk about. Still, it didn't take much time for us to arrive at my home. When we did, I opened the door.

"Come in." I said quite simply, before entering myself. Datz followed, and I closed the door. He looked around the house.

"I gotta say, you gotta nice place here." Datz sat one of the couches in the living room. "Welp, don't let me stop ya. You can go on gather your stuff."

I sighed. "Sure, I'll do it as fast as I can."

I walked over to my room and sat on my bed. The room and bed that starts my every day, including this one. And yet, so much has changed. A couple of hours ago, I left this room hating Dhurke, thinking Amara was dead and with not much planned for the future. But now, I suddenly sympathize with Dhurke, believe Queen Amara wasn't actually assassinated and am about to go away from my home country with Her Mercifulness' supposed murderer. It sounded absurd. Yet, it was reality. I was leaving Khura'in.

I thought on that notion for a while. If I were to be caught with Dhurke, I'd probably become wanted, if I wasn't arrested or even killed first. But considering Dhurke had to bring himself, his sons and his furniture to the mountains, I was pretty sure he had found a way to sneak out of Khura'in without being seen. I didn't really have any close friends or family, so I didn't need to inform anyone of my departure. Except maybe Frie'nd, considering we had only met a few hours ago, and we really seemed to hit it off.

I still had my job as a servant, and it was one I intended to keep. If I left without telling the Queen, I'd most likely fired. But, I couldn't just go up and ask. The Queen had a strict schedule to keep. The only time I could see Queen Ga'ran would be during my next shift, which happened to be tomorrow. Which was when Dhurke. I'd have to think on how to figure that out.

"Hey, hurry up and get ready!" Datz yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts. I stood up and decided to put that aside for now. I quickly gathered some of my clothes, some cleaning products and some photos and put them into a bag. I then slung it over my shoulder and ran out to the living room where Datz was.

"You finally ready?" He asked, standing up. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I said, before adding. "But, I'd like to do something before we go back to Dhurke."

"No problem, we got time." Datz assured.

"Let's go then."

---

Febuary 16, 3:55 PM – Kingdom of Khura'in – Ba'zaar

"We're back here again." I said to myself, looking around the area.

"What'dya want from here anyways?" Datz asked.

"Just wanted to say goodbye to someone before I leave." I replied.

"Ah, I get it. Well, if ya need me, I'll be at the food stands!" Datz gave me a thumbs up before running over to a stand. I shook my head. How could he possibly eat after he devoured so much an hour ago?

"Well, that doesn't really matter. I should probably hurry up and do what I came to do." I said to myself. I walked over to the magatah'man stand, and just like a couple of hours ago, Frie'nd was there, selling a man one of the baked snacks.

"Thank you very much!" Frie'nd said to her customer. The said man bowed to her and left. She then noticed me and waved.

"Oh, Hap'piraki, Rei'vol!" She greeted to me. I waved back.

"Hap'piraki, Frie'nd." I said, reaching down into the bag over my shoulder for change.

"So, where have you been? I just saw you go into that alley over there and you didn't come out. I was kinda worried to be honest." Frie'nd asked. I shrugged in dismissiveness.

"I just found something interesting there." I explained. She seemed a bit suspicious, but she didn't follow up on her question.

"Ah, I see. Anyways, I'm guessing you want a magatah'man?" She guessed. I thought about it for a moment before correcting her.

"Actually, I'd like five." I told her, handing over the rather hefty amount of coins needed for the snack.

"Have you grown a craving for these or something?" She asked amusingly, taking the coins from my hand.

"No, they're just for other people." I replied. 'Although, there is Datz... Well, whatever.'

"Frie'nd?" I said.

"Yes. Rei'vol?"

"I'll be going on vacation tomorrow." I told her. She seemed surprised.

"Oh, you are? Why didn't you tell me before?" Frie'nd asked.

"It just came up." I simply replied. I didn't want to go into any details.

"Oh, I see... So, where are you going?" She inquired. I thought a bit on whether or not to tell her, considering the fact that Dhurke is wanted, and we didn't want to be discovered. But, although it's pretty much a zero on a million percent chance of happening, it is possible Frie'nd might need our help.

"I'll be up there in mountains." I answered, pointing my head to the east where the said mountains were. She nodded.

"Alright. I might go visit you with honey..." She said to herself. But, I managed to pick up what she said.

"Huh... honey? Is that your husband or something?" I asked. She smiled and showed me her left hand. On the index finger was a ring.

"Yeah. We've been together for almost a year now." Frie'nd replied, staring at the ring. "He knew Re'sol and Ab'sol too, so I'm sure he'd want to meet their son."

"Congratulations, Frie'nd." I congratulated, closing my eyes and smiling. "Nice to know you're happy."

"Thank you." Frie'nd said. She then grabbed a brown bag, and put the freshly baked magatah'mans into it, before handing it over to me. "There you go."

"Thanks." I thanked, taking the brown bag. "Well then, I'm off. Have a nice day! I'll visit the stand as soon as I come back!"

"Bye! I might visit you with my husband, so be prepared!" Frie'nd exclamed, waving at me hapilly. I waved back. Afterwards, I left the stand.

---

After leaving the magatah'man stand, I ended up the middle of the ba'zaar searching for Datz. I looked at every food stand, every building that we were allowed to go into, even every alleyway. But I couldn't find him.

'Maybe he just went back into the manhole?' I told myself. However, what I saw in the middle of the ba'zaar threw that thought out of the window.

"Stooooop right theeeerreee! In the name of Queen Ga'raaaan!"

A bunch of Royal Guards, spears at their side, were chasing someone at frightening speed. Most of the people in ba'zaar had cleared the streets to make room for the pursuers, and some of the citizens even joined the Royal Guards in the chase. But that wasn't the proble. The problem was who was being chased. It was Datz.

'What did he do to get the Royal Guard to chase him?' I thought to myself. While I managed to see him, it seemed Datz didn't, because when he passed me, he said nothing. Instead, he turned to his left rather quickly and ran into an alleyway. The Guards then, oddly enough stopped.

"Oh nooooo!! We lost the thieeeeef!" They yelled in unison, breathing heavily out of fatigue.

'Oh, so they're tired...' I thought, before realizing. 'Wait, this is a perfect opportunity!' I walked over to the gasping guards.

"Hap'piraki." I greeted them all, bowing my head in respect,

"Oh... helloooo!!" One of them said between breaths. It must take practice to be able to yell after losing all of your stamina.

"Sir, can you deliver a message to Her Eminence, Queen Ga'ran?" I asked, already smiling at what I was going to say next.

"Yes?" He said, recovering from his run a bit.

"Please inform Her Eminence that Rei'vol Lu'tion, her personal servant, shall be taking a short leave of absence, but will be back to serving her as soon as he returns." I practically recited. "Say those exact words to her."

"Okayyyyy! I shall deliver this message to Her Eminenceeeee!" He yelled, before he and the rest of the Royal Guards began to run towards the temple where the Queen resided. Although, if they could still run, can't they still go after Datz?

'Whatever.' I thought dismissively. I walked to the alleyway where Datz went through. It was the alley with the manhole, meaning it was where Dhuke probably was. Considering the fact that he wanted to escape security, Datz probably went through here. I sighed.

"Let's just hope I figured out my way around here...

---

Febuary 16, 4:25 PM – Kingdom of Khura'in – Sahdmadhi Law Offices

"I... finally made it..." I gasped after climbing up the ladder that lead to the office. After what seemed like an eternity of traversing the dark sewers, discovering a slew of weird sewer animals and dead ends, I had finally found it.

Inside of the room was Dhurke and Datz putting the boxes near the couches, probably to make it easier to bring out later, as well as Nahyuta and Apollo, who were playing on the ground. Dhurke noticed me on the floor gasping for air. He grabbed something from the couch and walked over to me.

"Oh, hey there Rei'vol! Took you long enough!" He said, before handing me my Magatama necklace that I left here. I smiled and put it back on.

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be having that problem if somebody actually guided me through there." I said, glaring at Datz, who was currently cracking up.

"I was being chased by the guards! I had to escape!" He said, giving me a thumbs up. It made sense, but it was still annoying.

"Well, then." I took the brown bag that I was holding and opened it. I grabbed one of the magatah'mans and gave the rest of the bag to Dhurke.

"I got some magatah'mans. One for each of us." I said, taking a bite out of the green snack. Dhurke accepted the bag.

"Thanks! It's been a while since I've one of these, so it feels kind of nostalgic!" Dhurke exclaimed. He took one out of the bag and tossed it over to Datz, who caught it and immediately devoured it. Dhurke then went over to Apollo and Nahyuta and took out a magatah'man for each of them and handed them over. They grabbed them excitedly and quickly began to much on them. Finally, Dhurke took the last one for himself and took a bite out of it.

"Hmm, delicious! This is a lot better than the ones they used to sell!" Datz exclaimed.

"Agreed." Dhurke said, nearly finished with his own magatah'man.

"The person working at the stand was different then before, so it might be that. But, I'd definitely agree." I explained, standing up. I then finished the green snack.

"Well then, when are we leaving for the mountains?" I asked.

"Right now, actually." Dhurke stated. "Since Datz tired out the Royal Guards, we should be able to pass by without much problem."

'Wait, so that was planned!?' I thought. I looked over to Datz and, almost as if he read my mind, winked at me. I glared at him in annoyance.

"Either way, it's best we leave now since it's our best opportunity." Dhurke said. I nodded.

"Alright, that makes sense." I said, approaching some of the boxes. "There isn't that many, so it shouldn't be much problem." Then, Datz approached the boxes as well and picked some of them up.

"Okay, I'll lead the way." He stated, heading to the exit of the office. "Follow me." He descended down the ladder with one arm.

I picked up the rest of the boxes. While they weren't that heavy, it was hard to manage with the bag slung over my shoulder. Dhurke carried Nahyuta and Apollo in his arms. He nodded to me and descended as well. I took in a huge breath of air before following them.

---

Febuary 16, 5:00 PM – Outskirts of Khura'in

Surprisingly enough, all we had to do to leave Khura'in was follow a somewhat linear path in the sewer. While it was still dark and less than pleasant to say the least, I was expecting that we'd have to go to the surface. For once, I was happy to be wrong. After a good half hour or so, we were out of Khura'in. In fact, we could still see it from up stop. Once on the surface, we took a small break. So, I stared at the country below.

"Hey Rei'vol, you okay? I mean, you sorta made this decision on a whim." Datz asked, stretching his arms after having to carry the boxes for a good amount of time. Dhurke, on the other hand, was watching Nahyuta and Apollo sleep.

"Yeah, it's fine. Just feeling a bit homesick." I answered.

"Homesick? We aren't even at the mountains yet." Datz said. I nodded.

"It's a bit different than that..." I answered once again, still staring at Khura'in.

'...No matter what, I will bring Amara back. Not just for me, but for Dhurke and all of Khura'in!'

"Alright, Datz. We're almost at the mountains, right? Let's hurry up and get there." I said, turning around to face him. Datz nodded.

"Okay. Dhurke, we're moving again!" Datz yelled over to his companion. He picked up Apollo and Nahyuta. Datz grabbed his boxes and walked over to Dhurke. He then looked at me and motioned me to follow them. I smiled. I didn't know what it exactly it was, but something new was beginning.